This essay examines Sebald’s preference for eccentrics, amateurs and dilettantes, whose nonconformist views were incompatible with a scientific worldview or technocratic views. These were of concern to Sebald because he felt that theories and views disqualified from official discourse would offer an untapped pool of knowledge for his writing. The essay first discusses the significance and function of amateurs and dilettantes in Sebald’s narrative work as well as eccentric traits of his character. It then applies the concept of “minor writing” (Deleuze/Guattari) to Sebald’s texts and discusses the influence of academic outsiders such as Rudolf Bilz or Rupert Sheldrake. Sebald’s essays on Herbert Achternbusch and Ernst Herbeck provide examples of his use of these minor writers as inspiration for his own writing.

This essay focusses on Sebald’s grandfather Josef Egelhofer. Sebald spent the first years of his life largely in the loving care of Josef, who became far more of a father figure to him than Sebald’s actual father Georg, who was mostly absent during the formative early years of his son’s life. Egelhofer made a profound impression on young Winfried and formed a close bond with his grandson that ended with his traumatic death in April 1956. First, the essay details the importance of this relationship and discusses Egelhofers role as a key figure in Sebald’s life as a teacher of the natural world. It then explores the literary manifestation of Egelhofer in Sebald’s work by way of literary figures that are sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly connected with him: the writer Robert Walser, the naturalist Alphonso Fitzpatrick, the mountain guide Johannes Naegeli, the communist leader Rudolf Egelhofer. Finally, the essay examines the ‘cult of remembrance’ Sebald commemorates in order to creatively confront his burden of grief. It is shown that his grandfather’s death is the original trauma and primal pain to which the mourning work conducted in his literary works must be traced back.